1905 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



107 



larva. Their ravages are most noticeable in the spring, just as young seed- 

 lings appear above the ground, or when annual plants have been set out. As 

 they feed chiefly at night, their injury is quite apparent in the morning, 

 when plants may be seen to have been cut or eaten off at the surface, or even 

 a little below it. If the earth around such plants is examined, coiled up, 

 dirty gray, or reddish brown, smooth caterpillars, about an inch or more in 

 length, will be seen. Around some plants the writer has found as many as 

 nineteen. They are all of some dull shade of color similar to the ground in 

 which they hide during the day. When they occur in large numbers and 

 their food supply is short, they feed by day as well as by night. In Ontario 

 the two kinds which have given the most trouble in flower gardens are the 

 Red-backed Cutworm, Paragrotis ochrogaster, Gn., and the Dark-sided Cut- 

 worm Paragrotis 7nessoria, Harr. These two cutworms often occur together 

 and it is sometimes difl&cult to distinguish between the two. Other cut- 

 worms w^hich are present in some numbers almost every season, and which 

 occasionally do serious damage, are the White Cutworm, Paragrotis scandens, 

 Riley, the Spotted Cutworm, Noctua c-nigru7n, L,, and the Greasy Cutworm, 

 Agrotis ypsiJon, Rott. (Fig. 38). The Variable Cutworm, Mamestra atlant- 

 ica, Grt., the moths of which are very abundant some seasons, may at any 

 time do harm. (Fig. 39 shows another common moth of this family.) 



During the past season, another kind of cutworm, that of Barathra occi- 

 dentata, Grt., made its first appearance in Canada as a pest of importance. 

 The moths of this species were very abundant at Ottawa in June, and later 

 the larvae appeared in considerable numbers and did serious damage to lark- 

 spurs, bleeding hearts, pansies, violets, etc. 



As the habits of cutworms are very similar, the same remedy is applic- 

 able to all the species. As soon as their presence in a garden is detected, the 

 well-known poisoned bran remedy, which has lately come into such wide use, 

 should be applied. This is made by simply moistening some bran with a 

 little sweetened water and gently dusting in Paris green, so that all the 

 particles of the bran will be poisoned. The whole should be mixed thoroughly 

 together and then placed in small quantities near, but not touching, the 

 plants to be protected. Half a pound of Paris green is sufficient to poison 

 fifty pounds of bran. 



Fig. 39. Agrotis Subgothica. 



Fig. 40. Wire worm and beetle. 



White Grubs. {Lachno sterna.) The roots of many kinds of flowering 

 plants are often eaten by the larvae of May Beetles, or June Bugs. These 

 larvae, which are known as White Grubs, usually occur in land which has 

 been in sod for several years. (See Fig. 6.) During the past season at Ot- 

 tawa the roots of asters and other annuals were eaten, causing the death of 



